Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Much work was done this past Thursday in making the place more presentable:

Congratulations to all who worked mightily to make the place ready for an influx of new members.

As a reminder, The Menz Shed needs a donated cell phone that uses a SIMS card, so that we can publish our phone number and receive calls via voice mail.

Two of the bookshelves were relocated along the wall closest to the desk area which are currently being used to sort out the various hand and small power tools. Many of the tools donated have now been sorted. The next step is to examine them and decide which to keep, refurbish or get rid of. This will be done on Thu. Oct. 2.

Congratulations to all the men who worked on the first workbench, because it is now complete and will be moved to its permanent location.

The guiding light on the workbenches has been Tony Daniel, whose expertise as a carpenter was demonstrated by his handy tips and use of the table saw.

Monday, September 21, 2009

The committee have come up with a workshop rules list, which will be posted on the notice board for all to read and observe, especially around health & safety.

Last week saw the assembly of one work bench and this week the working bee will continue with the construction of another.

We would like all 'sheddies' to be involved in a survey and indicate what kind of activities they are interested in participating in, as this will have bearing on how the workshop will be set up and run. It has been recognised that we will need to look at having designated areas for woodwork, electrical and other activities so your input is greatly needed.

So we are better organised, a list of projects will be written on the new notice board and 'sheddies' are asked to put their names next to the project they would like to assist with. This way everyone can be involved.

The sooner the work benches are in place, the sooner the shed can be utilised and put to better use for everyone, so all hands on deck!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Wellington City's first Health, Wealth & Wellbeing Expo for Seniors which will be held on:

Thursday, 1 October 2009 in celebration ofInternational Day of the Older PersonWellington Town Hall 10 am- 3 pmEntry is FREE

This is your chance to find out all you need to know about having a great life in Wellington.

Find out more about travel, continuing education, computer training, tai chi and genealogy, while enjoying great live music from the 20’s to the 60’s. You can talk to service providers including Age Concern and Grey Power and go shopping too – you’ll be amazed at the great range of gadgets, clothes and other interesting things on offer.

As well as finding out about things you can get involved in, you can talk to people from Government Departments and Council about services you may be entitled to and providers of care services and home support will be along too.

There will also be Tai Chi and Sit and be Fit demonstrations, plus GoBus Wellington will be bringing along the latest super low kneeling bus for you to try out and the Funeral Directors Association are keen to show off the pride of their fleet, a 1938 Packard Hearse, complete with white wall tyres!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Wellington South Superannuitants Association Inc. newsletter, Grey Power News, has an excellent write up headed A place for 'Blokes'. The article has a generic overview of the Menz Shed philosophy and a specific section on our Shed and how to contact us.

NOTE: We are looking at providing a text messaging service only, for inward and outward texts to further our membership contact. Watch this space.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Today saw the usual kick off with tea and biscuits and much discussion around todays activities and how they might proceed.

Garry, the Chair explained to the assembled sheddies about the workbench design, where they were to be located, the size that was determined and where the vice grips might be placed etc.

Tony, wielding the electric saw (and ably assisted by Garry and Richard) began cutting the lengths of timber to size, ready for assembly.

Nigel took to making a wooden frame in which to mount the workshop white board, which will be wall mounted.

It was discovered that we didn't get delivery of nails, so Garry is arranging to pick these up and assembly of the work benches will begin tomorrow, Friday at 10am. Anyone wishing to lend a hand is most welcome.

When it is decided what will be happening next week we will post another notice.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Cup of tea & bikkies went well with the chatter that ensued after the examining and testing of tools that have found the way into the shed over the last week.

We heard from the resident committee about details discussed at their Monday meeting this week, which included:

A decision that a gold coin donation on entry to the shed, would help to replenish the tea, coffee and biscuits that everyone seems to enjoy.

Many thanks goes out to the guys at the Southern Landfill who are assisting us to 'kit ourselves up'. Electric drills, sander, toaster and some hand tools were kindly donated.

The Committee have worked on a draft of 'Shed Rules' which will be forwarded on as soon as they are finalised.

The sheddies discussed the sourcing of equipment, with a Bill offering to donate a bench vice, thanks Bill!

It was decided that the Committee will meet this coming Monday at the Shed, 2pm to identify and prioritise what tools, especially heavy duty ones like a drill press etc which will need to be sourced. This is an open meeting and all sheddies who would like to take part in this discussion are welcome to attend.

Tom advised that the Naenae Shed are holding a fundraiser at the Lighthouse Picture Theatre in Petone (Buick Street) on Wednesday 7th October, 6pm, to see 'The Mens Group' This movie has won awards and is akin to what 'sheds' are all about. If you are interested in attending this fundraiser you can purchase tickets for $20 (this includes the movie, nibbles, lucky spot prizes & raffle) from Claire O'Connor, Phone 04 567-0023 or email hvcommunity@wesleyca.org.nz

Garry will approach Harris's Art Supplies with regards to a white board for the shed & he will also attend a seminar to gain some ideas for funding.

Norman is looking into options with the different phone companies to find the best deal for us to have an answerphone system, so men interested in joining the shed can leave messages.

Alan Royal who is our webmaster and still recovering from his broken leg but still working hard at keeping our website up to date, has been contacted by 'The Shed' magazine editor, after he saw our write up in this weeks Dominion Post. He has advised they would like to do a news item on our Shed in the next months magazine. Exciting stuff!

Another point of interest is that our very own Menz Shed will be featured on Spectrum, which is a documentary programme on National Radio 101.3 FM , which runs on a Sunday 12.10pm after the midday news. Jack Perkins who organised the recording of the interviews, visited the shed for 2 weeks running a few weeks back, to get the commentary for the programme. So don't forget to tune in this Sunday, 6th September, 12.10pm National Radio 101.3 FM. Here is a link to their website which features our very own Menz Shed!

Next week at the shed…. It will be all hands on deck to begin the job of assembling our long awaited work benches! See you there!

Spectrum is a documentary programme on National Radio 101.3 FM , which runs on a Sunday 12.10pm after the midday news.

This Sunday, 6 September, Menz Shed Wellington is the focus of the programme. Jack Perkins who organised the recording of the interviews, visited the shed for 2 weeks running about 4 weeks ago to get the commentary for the programme.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Rosemary Nourse from WellElder Counselling Centre for Older People, gave a presentation to the group on what services they provide both here in Wellington city and in Kapiti.Below is a useful snapshot of what WellElder is all about.CounsellingWellElder believes that we all face challenges as we age. We are never too old to learn new skills, change behaviour, or grow in insight and understanding to maintain good emotional health.

Older people are used to getting on with life themselves, but a skilled professional is surprisingly easy to talk to and can help us to:

* move through depression * reduce anxiety and/or stress * make our own decisions about issues we are finding challenging * improve our relationships * develop our sense of well being * come to terms with events and decisions in our lives.

No issue is too big or too small – our relationships, the loss of friends and family, where we live, memories that we live with, coping with the daily demands of life, anxiety or depression– whatever it is that we face can be brought to counselling.Sessions & CostsSessions last 50 – 60 minutes and clients are eligible for up to 6 sessions. Further sessions may be available if needed. We ask for a contribution of $10.00, or more, for each counselling session. If clients are unable or unwilling to meet this, our service is still available.

After Rosemary's well received presentation the sheddies then started talking 'business' around the meeting agenda which included:

* Having 2 more 'sheddies' volunteer to be on the committee, so making up our committee are: Garry, Doug and Henry, who will be joined by Nigel and Norman. * Documenting 'in house' rules. * Financial report * First Aid Kit - Newtown Union Health have been approached and are happy to put one together for the shed! Thanks to NUH. * Bunnings have again approached us with another possible project, where Menz Shed may benefit financially to assist in covering some of our overheads. Bunnings have offered to supply the materials at cost and Menz Shed will make basic picnic tables or outdoor toy boxes to sell on. * Tony has been assigned the task of drawing and measuring up for materials required to make planter boxes for our patch at the back of the shed. * Garry has arranged with Bunnings the delivery of materials for us to begin building our much needed work benches, this will hopefully be delivered by Thursday. * The committee met on Monday to discuss and draft the 'General Rules' and membership. * The cat playstations, were whacked up in no time last week and Bunnings have collected them for delivery to the Cats Protection League, thanks to Tony,

This Thursday 3rd September - We may have a visit from the Wellington City Mission Budgeting Team - to be confirmed. Otherwise it's all hands on deck!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

eDay is a community initiative designed to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling computers and the hazardous nature of electronic waste (e-waste), while offering an easy way for households and schools to dispose of old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Yet another good turnout at the shed today, Walking in was to the buzz of chatter, with the sheddies checking out the latest drop off of furniture in need of repair from Refugee Services.

The meeting, as usual, started off with a cuppa and biscuits and talk of what's been happening with the sheddies over the last week.

After a fashion we settled in to 'talk shop' and covered the following topics:

Paul, the resident builder at Bunnings was on hand to deliver the last of the materials to make a start on the play stations for the Cats Protection League.

Work on the play station will start on Monday 24th, 10am if you would like to join the crew.

Paul has advised Bunnings are able help out with some off cuts that can assist with some of our repairs, thanks to Bunnings!

Norman will look into getting a job sheet formatted so we can make sure the jobs we take on are carried out in a timely fashion and will organise a poster, to help advertise our Menz Shed and to mention we are always happy to receive donated tools!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

We will be visited by Paul Wilson, resident builder at Bunnings, who will bring the rest of the wood and screws to enable the cat playstation to be assembled. If anyone has a drill they could bring along for the day that would be most helpful!

Paul has suggested that he could take a couple of the sheddies to the Cat Protection League on Thursday for a quick visit, to check it out and have a look at what the assembled stations look like to report back to the shed.

Paul also advised that he may be able to assist with our work benches and that he has access to designs for other projects the sheddies might like to take on, such as a basic picnic table. More about that on Thursday!

We would also like to get everyone involved in a discussion around 'Rules of the Shed'. This means that you all have input into how your shed runs.

If anyone has any suggestions or points of interest they would like to share, you can email or contact me directly.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Here are the highlights of Thursday's gathering at Menz Shed Wellington.

The committee met earlier with the steering group to talk around some issues that need to be put in place, including:

What the zoning (light industrial etc) of Haining St is so we know what kind of activities we will be able to run out of the shed

Whether there may be noise restrictions etc when using some machinery.

Organising a 'rules list' around workplace behaviour etc, it would be great if all sheddies have input into making up this list, as this is YOUR shed and YOU need to contribute to how you would like it run.

Committee meeting out of the way, we welcomed the team from Bunnings, who spoke to us about their involvement with the Cats Protection League and the plan to build a 'cat playstation'. The sheddies mucked in and brought the already cut to length wood for the project into the shed, which will probably get assembled next week.

The cabinet and washing machine that were delivered by Refugee Services for repair, are now repaired and ready for a refugee family

.Keiran Monaghan, Primary Healthcare Nurse from Newtown Union Health paid us a visit, to talk to the group on mens health, primarily, the subject of prostate cancer. This was a very interesting presentation which the sheddies had lots of questions around and stories abounded! A healthy discussion to say the least. Keiran, is willing to be our 'resident nurse' and will be coming along to other shed meetings, which will be advertised beforehand.

Norman brought along some 'logos' that he has been working on and would like sheddies to vote on which one we can use as the official 'Menz Shed Wellington' logo. This will then be used on our ID badges, posters, forms etc. Thanks for your efforts on this Norman!

We're sure everyone enjoyed the presentation by Liz Barrett from Refugee Services, who explained what they do to assist refugees settling here in Wellington and how we may be able to help them with furniture repairs etc.

We also had a visit from Jack Perkins from NZ on Air who made his presence known with his microphones and getting an understanding of what Menz Shed is all about, thank you to those of you who contributed to this.

There was certainly lively discussion today and we're pleased to advise that we now have 3 of the group who have put their hands up to form a committee so we can look to move forward. A big thank you goes out to Garry Prockter, Doug Walkin and Henry Hodge. I know everyone will help support them in their roles.

Some other topics discussed:

Garry has designed work benches and will be providing us with the measurements of the equipment needed so we can start building them, thank you Garry!

Bill has indicated that he is happy to look at the underplanting around the cabbage tree that the Soup Kitchen had requested some assistance with. We will look at sourcing some plants to get this job started.

Norman will be busy designing name tags so we can all identify each other!

We asked those present to indicate what days they would prefer to attend whether it 1 or 5 days a week… we'll check out the results and let you know.

Steve has kindly donated a free standing Ryobi Tablesaw (he won it in a raffle, jammy eh?)

Steve also spoke to the group and gave an overview of what Menz Sheds are all about, with some discussion around membership, rules, safety and security issues.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Geoff Moss came along today and gave a magnificent demonstration of how he makes walking sticks using simple tools, lots of patience, limited working space and much ingenuity.

They are made from New Zealand native timbers with animal horn handles and paua inlays.

He has a collection of more than 100 sticks, many of which he has acquired worldwide. His craft result is used by Prime Ministers and Ambassadors!

Look at the slideshow in the left column. An enlargement of the slideshow can be viewed here. Just click Slideshow at the top left of that page.

Geoff has agreed to return and run workshops for members, so watch this space. The remainder of the meeting time was used to work through the agenda below. Jobs were allocated to manage a number of areas noted. Further details will be posted as they come to hand.

We are looking for ‘older blokes’ who can provide hands on trade or hobby skills and time to meet socially in a place to do what they enjoy, perhaps help upskill others and also assist your local community by doing what blokes do best!

To discuss your involvement and further development of YOUR local Menz Shed, come along to the open day for a chat and a cuppa.You know where!!